Safety



J. MEIKLEJOHN.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR WEAVING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 19' I919.

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J. MEIKLEJOHN.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR WEAVING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 19. m9.

1,31 6,91 4. Patented Sept. 23, 1919.

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JAMES MEIKLEJ'OHN, F LOCKIPORT, NEW YORK.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR HAVING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 23, 1919.

Application filed March 19, 1919. Serial No. 283,546.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES MEIKLEJOHN,

a subject of the King of Great Britain, residin at Lockport, in the county of Niagara and tate of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Safety Appliances for VVeaving-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means adapted to be applied to weaving machines, particularly of the jacquard type, for preventing injury to parts of the machines.

In machines of the jacquard type in which the operation of the machines is controlled by pattern cards, it sometimes happens that the card-carrying cylinders do not present the cards in proper relation to the needleboard, in which case the machine may become jammed, causing injury or breaking of parts of the actuating mechanism and of the needle-board, needles and hooks, pattern cards, or the cylinder.

The objects of the invention are to provide a machine of this kind in which injury to the actuating mechanism of the weaving machine is avoided in case the pattern card cylinder should fail to take the proper position relatively to the needleboard; also to provide means for preventing injury to the needles, needle-board or patterns when the pattern card cylinder assumes an incorrect position; also to improve the construction and operation of machines of this kind in other respects hereinafter specified.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary elevation of a weaving machine provided with the means embodying the invention for preventing injury to the machine.

Fig. 2 is a similar fragmentary view showing the pattern cylinder of the machine in an incorrect position and showing the parts of the machine in a position to prevent injury to the machine.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view, on an enlarged scale, of the cylinder and needle-board in an incorrect position, and showing the stop for preventing injury to the needle-board, needles, hooks, and cylinder corners.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional eleva-' tion thereof on line 4:4, Fig. 3, showing the cylinder in correct position-in regard to 55 the needle-board.

Fig. 5 shows in elevation a part of a weaving machine and means of modified construction for preventing injury to the machine.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, showing 0 the parts in different positions.

The drawings show the invention as applied to a jacquard weaving machine of well known construction, which includes a frame A on which the grifi's B B are slidably mounted to move vertically, the griifs being provided with the usual knives (not shown) adapted to cooperate with hooks b.

C C represents the usual cylinders or carriers by means of which the pattern cards are brought into operative relation to the needle-boards D D. The cylinders C include the usual perforated faces 0 with which the pattern cards are adapted to registcr, and are journaled at their opposite ends in suitable frames 0 which are movable to place the cylinders and the pattern cards which are held thereon into and out of operative relation to the needle-boards. Each of the frames 0 is preferably provided with the usual positioning member 0 for the cylinder, which member is adapted to engage with corner posts or positioning stops 0 arranged at the ends of the cylinders to hold the cylinders in proper positions to be presented to the needle-boards. The cylinders may be intermittently rotated by any suitable ordesired means (not shown) to advance the pattern cards one at a time, and are moved toward and from the needle-boards by means of slidably mounted rods E. These rods, in the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2, are provided with arms or extensions 0 rigidly secured thereto and each rod has an inclined slot in which a pin 6, extending outwardly from one of the grifi's B B, is adapted to engage. The vertical movements of the pins 6 is transmitted through the rodsE to the cylinders G and causes the cylinders O to move into and out of operative relation to the needle-boards. All of these parts are of well known construction and of themselves constitute -no part of this invention.

It will be seen that when a pattern card carrier or cylinder is not placed into the correct position for moving into operative relation to the needle-board, for example, into a position such as shown in F1gs2 and B, the usual movement of the cylinder to= 110 wardithe needle-board will not be possible without injury to some part of the machine.

For this purpose it is desirable to provide means whereby injury to the machine will be avoided if the cylinder'assumes airincorrect position with regard to the needles board,-and the following construction is preferably employed: Since the grifls are of suflicient Weight to move to' their lowest positions by gravity, connecting llnks F F are provided between the griffsand the usual actuating levers G G which will" permit the grilfs to descend by gravity and permit the G G may move.

positively moving levers G G to move to the full limits of their paths of movement without forcing the griffs to the limits oftheir paths' of movement. [This is accom- 1 plishe dyby providing a lost motion connectionbetween each of the'levers G Gr and the-links FF, inwhich pins 9 of the levers" Consequently, if the cylinder G should assume the position shown in Figs. 2" and 3,.thuslimiting the inward =n10vem'ent of the cylinder toward the needle- "board, the parts will occupy the relative positio-nshown in Fig 2, in which the pin j; g mo'ves' tolthe lower portion of the slot, thus pe'rmitting thepositively actuated lever 1G to move throughout the full extent of its movement and permitting the griffs B te movethrough only a part of its movement,

:9 thus'avoiding injury to the actuating mecha *nism'for the griffs'or for the cylinder. The

f-act thatthe grifi's do not in-such a case movethrough the full limits of their movement-anol thatconsequently for a'short inarmy of time the machine will fail to operate in accordance with'the pattern, is not sufiicientto injure the work, since the fact that a: grifl' does not move to the full limit of "its movement will immediately attract 'the attention of an operator so that the machinemay be stopped without delay and the defect remedied; The lostmotion connec tion between the 'griff and the actuating leverprevents breaking or injury of -the 'slotted member 6, to the cylinder, needleboard, needles, hooks," or any other parts of-the machine orof the actuating mechanism' therefor. In *casethe pattern card to the needles, hooks; needle-board, or'cylin-;

' der corners is very 'li'kely to result, since anedge or-corner of the cylinder-may press" "agams't theneedlesd and'bend or brea'kthe -sa-me; In order to prevent'this from occur' 7 ringya stop on guard H ispreferably providedat each end of the needle-board and is arrangedtoengagethe corner' posts or "positioning stopsfc? of the cylinder" C in case"- the cylinder is presented edgewise; to

' [the needle*board-,'as= shown in Figs'. 2 and 35 These stops-, see particularly Figs. 3 and 4:,

cylinder "C is presented'to the needle-board in any posi-' tion other than its correct position, injury extend-outwardly from the needle-board to a silfhcient extent to prevent the cyhnder W'LI'Cl the needle-board, no harm- Will be done to the cylinder-actuating mechanism,

owin to thelost motion connection' -he'rein before described.

" Incase the pattern card cylinder is not actuated through themedium of the grifl's, such as in a double-acting single cylmder machine, or-in any acquard mac'hin e'in" whichthe "cylinder" is operated independently of the grifi, a lostmotionconnection of diiferentform may be provided. For example, in Figs. 5 and 6-the pattern card cylinder C isactuated by meansfof a rod slidably arranged in hearings on the frame of the machine, 'reciprocatory motion being imparted to 'the' rod I by -meansof a link 'lc actuated by means of an oscillatory arm K-secured onan oscillatory shaft 70', In thiscasethe lostmotion isprovided by making the arm K in, two-parts, the lower part lc being pivotally connected with the upper part 70 and a spring L preferably connects the twoparts of -;the arm to hold" the same in their normal positions. If the pattern card cylinder C assumes an incor-' rectposition in regard to the -needle-board,

the parts 70 k 'of-the levermoverelatively to each other as shown in Fig. '6," against the action of a spring L, thus permitting the positively driven part lc of the arm' K to move through its I usual path-'ofmovement without carrying the part 75 and parts connected therewith through their usual 'paths of .movement thereby preventing-injury to the mechanism. 7

By ine'ans of theconstruction-described, comparativelyinexpensive changes m'weaving machines as now--constructedserve: to preventaccidents 'to the machines The mechanism described therefore preventsthe waste of time incurred by-the breaking of parts of the weaving machines and does-not in any way-interfere with theproperiopera tion of the partswhen the same are in correct positions. The lost motion connection not only acts in case'the cylinder assumes anincorrect position relatively to the needle- 7 board, but also if for any other-cause' the proper operation of the machine is i'n'terfGI'GClWlth, for example in case the pattern cards becomewound about a cylinderor if some foreign "substance or objectenters' between the oylinder and the -needle-boarch The lost motion connection is also an indicator as to the conditions of the bearings of the griifs and movable parts connected therewith, since if the bearings need lubrication to such an extent that the grifi's will not drop by gravity, the lost motion connections will attract the operators attention to this condition and the machine will not operate properly until the defect has been remedied. This prevents the wearing out of the bearings due to lack of lubrication, which results if the griffs are positively driven.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a jacquard weaving machine, the combination of a needle-board, a pattern card carrier adapted. to move into and out of operative relation to said needle-board,

a projection on said needle-board adapted to stop the movement on said carrier toward the needle-board when the carrier is in an incorrect position, means for actuating said carrier, and a lost motion connection in said actuating means which operates only when the movement of said carrier relatively to said needle-board is resisted.

2. In a jacquard weaving machine, the combination of a pattern card carrier which is movable into and out of an operative position, a grid, a connection between said grifl and said carrier for actuating said carrier, a driving mechanism for said grifl', and a lost motion connection in said driving mechanism which operates only when the movement of the grifl', of said carrier, or of said connection between said grifl and said carrier is resisted.

3. In a jacquard weaving machine, the combination of a pattern card carrier which is movable into and out of an operative position, a grifl operatively connected to actuate said carrier, positively driven mechanism for imparting movement to said grill, and a lost motion connection between said mechanism and said grifl, said lost motion connection operating only when the movement of said carrier into its operative position or of said griii' is resisted.

4. In a jacquard Weaving machine, the combination of a needle-board, a pattern card carrier adapted to move into and out of operative relation to said needle-board, and a stop device on said needle-board adapted to cooperate with said carrier to limit the movement of said carrier toward said needle-board when said carrier is in an incorrect position relatively to said needle-board.

5. In a jacquard weaving machine, the combination of a needle-board, a pattern card carrier adapted to move into and out of operative relation to said needle-board, said carrier having a recessed portion, and a stop device on said need1e-board adapted to enter said recessed portions when said carrier is in the correct operative position with regard to said needle-board and to limit the movement of said carrier toward said needle-board when said carrier is in an incorrect position relatively to said needle-board.

6. In a jacquard weaving machine, the combination of a needle-board, a pattern card carrier adapted to move into and out of operative relation to said needle-board and having recessed portions at opposite ends thereof, and stops arranged at opposite ends of said needle-board and adapted to enter into said recessed portions when the carrier is in a correct operative posi tion with regard to said needle-board and to limit the movement of said carrier toward said needle-board when said carrier is in an incorrect position relatively to said needle-board.

Vgitness my hand, this 10th day of March, 191 i JAMES MEIKLEJOHN..

Witnesses:

ARTHUR A. DAVENPORT, ALEXANDER REID.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G." 

